Cork-filled fabric and process of making same



April 1, 1930. A H. LEIBE 1,752,914

coax FILLED FABRIC AND PaocEss oF MAKING snm Filed oct. 22, 192e j;, fg s LIIIIII-ImfusluifIfI-I i; I2 f I z INVENIQR.

ATTORNEY'..

Patented Apr. 1, 1930 PATENT OFFICE HUGO LEIBE, F. BALTIMORE, MARYLAND' CORK-'FILLED FABRIC AND PROC-ESS OF MAKING SAME Application ined octgbr 22, 1926. seri'ai No. 143,502.

This invention relates to an improved cork fabric and the process of producing the same and has for `rits main object to provide a fabric that* may be utilized for garments which fabric will serve as an excellent insulator against heat or cold and is practically wrinkless. ,Y

The fabric is such that it may be made into a garment or utilized as a lining for a garment. v

The main idea embraced by the invention involves the use of plural plies of fabric securedtogether to form a series of separate and independent compartments throughout the.

fabric structure and eachcompartment having a filling of granular or shredded cork that will form an insulating means against heat or cold together with the steps em? Y ployed in producing the fabric.

2J The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which,

Fig. 1, shows the first step in producing the fabric.`

Fig. 2, illustrates a sectional detail 25 through the same,-the section being taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. l

Fig. 3 shows a sectional elevation through a mechanism and also a portion of the prepared fabric into the compartments of which the filler is being introduced.. I

Fig. 4, illustrates an edge view of the fabric with several of its compartmentslled with the filler. i

Fig. 5, shows a rolling step which I employ to compress thel filled compartments, and

vF ig. 6, illustrates a fragment of a completed fabric in which the compartments are arranged in horizontal and vertical rows.

Referring to the drawing the numerals 10- i and 11 designate two layers of fabric which may be of any desired material such as a woven material or leather or both.

These two fabric layers are stitched together on a series of vertical lines 12and on a horizontal line by a row of stitches suchas- 13. This arrangement-of vertical and horizontalstitching produces a plural ply struc-v ture with a-series of passages or compartment lis ,feflzfrom .thejhgpper 18 throi 14 there between,-t he passages being permanently separated one'from the otherjr It will therefore be noted that the laminated strip or sheet of material is stitched together along its verticaledge 15 and also 55 alongits lower horizontal `edge 16 but-it is left open along the top edge 17,-the passages or compartments ,thus being closed along their sides and across the lower ends.

The' laminated strip is then presented to a 60 filling machine as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing, which ismerely shown diagrammatically and will now be briefly explained.

-The fillingmechanism includes a hopper 18 with `a nozzle 19 at the bottom thereof and 65 la tube 20 tits into'the said nozzle and depends therefrom. They tubej l2O is of a diameter to fit or enter the passages 14 and is of sufficient length to extend from the open end 17 of the passages to the closed end of the latter. 70 In the hopper I provide a' short vertical shaft 21, with a socket 22 on the lower'end thereof and to this head 'I attach the upper end of a spirally-twisted blade 23 which blade depends `throughl the nozzle'and also 75 extends down through the tube 20.

`To the shaft21 I attach a sleeve 28 having an arm 24 in such manner that the shaft may revolve within the sleeve and by reciprocating the arm and sleeve vertically ashort vertical reciprocatingmovement will be im parted to the shaft and also to the spiral blade 23 in the depending tube.

' The reciprocating motion to the arm 24, sleeve 28, and the shaft 21 is produced by two cams 25 and 26,-tlie former being on the end of the arm 24 and the latter on the end of a horizontal drive-shaft 27.

Pulleys 20 and 30' guide an. endless belt 31, which latter drives the short vertical shaft 21 but permits said shaftv to move vertically and the shaft 2T is driven in any suitable mannel'. Y, L.-

. The granulated or shreddedfc'orlg filler 32 ghthe tube v lving and ieciprocab.

2Oby ineans oftheA ing spiral blade 23. 1 y 1 In practice I insertthelower end of tube Y 20 into the open eudjl-of the passages 14 unt-il the tube is nearly atA the lower end of `-rics together serving nated fabric.

:and produce a quilted filled. The shaft 2l is then rotated and reci rocated `vertically and thus forces the cork ller down through the tube into the bottom of the passa-ge in the lami- As the filler is fed through `the tube the friction of the ingoing filler will be on the wall of the tube and not on the wall of the passage and as the passages fill with the filler the fabric is gradually pushed from the lowerend of the tube until the passage is completely filled.

f'After the successive passages hare been filled I close the filling end thereof by running a row of stitches 33 across that end.

When theepassages have been filled and closed I pass the fabric between two compression rolls 34 and 35 as indicated in Fig. 5 which compresses the filler and makes the exterior' size'of the several passages more; uniforni in appearance.

I then pass `theentire fabric structure through a sewing machine and form a series `of uniformlyspaced horizontal rows of stitches 36 which latter cross the passage 14 condition in the fabric by producing a series of smaller compartments each entirely bounded by rows of stitching. i

By thus stitching the fabric in a direction crosswise of the tubular passages and forming a series of smaller compartments, the granular or shredded cork is retained in each of those compartments in a packed condition,- -the very stitching of the two opposed fabto effect this packing so that the filler cannot be displaced.

The fabric may be readily cut into any desired shape to suit the purpose for which the passage to be it is intended and when cut, the filler in the cut compartments only will be freed while V the fabric plies at those cut compartments 4will be utilized in the formation of seams or may be bound with braid or tape to give it a finish. f

The thickness of the cork f abric may be readily varied by simply varying the width the cork comes into effect a uniform packing Y of the cork in the passage.

2. The process of producing an insulated cork-filled fabric consisting in stitching plural plies of fabric together to form a series of parallel passages closed at the bottom but open at the top, then slipping the plural ply fabric over the lower end of a tube until the tube-end terminates adjacent to the lower closed end of one of the parallel passages, feeding granular cork through the tube to the lower closed-end of the passage to prevent frictional contact between the vingoing cork and the passage wall and causing the feeding of the cork into the 'passage to force the fabric from the tube as the filling of the passage progresses to effect uniform filling, then stitching across the filling ends of the parallel passages to close the lat-ter and finally stitching the filled passages in a crosswise direction to confine the cork in cells.

In'4 testimony whereof I affix my signature.

HUGO LEIBE.

betweenthe parallel lines that form the pas; y

sages or compartments 14. In other words, by varying the width of the passages 14, I may vary the thickness of the fabric because the narrower passages will contain less cork filler and thus reduce the thickness.

Obviously, the wider the passages the more cork filler can be placed therein and the thicker will the complete fabric be.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. The process for producing an insulated cork-filled fabric consisting in stitching plural plies of fabric together to form a series y of parallel passages closed at the bottom, then feeding granular cork into the passages from the closed bottom up while keeping the ingoing cork free from frictional contact with the fabric wall of the passage being filled, so as to pack the cork in the passage from the 

